Prevalence of Anemia and Malnutrition in Elderly in the Catchment Area of Thungkhitay Health Promotion Hospital, Pongprasart Sub-District, Bangsapan District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province

Abstract

The objectives of this descriptive cross-sectional study were to determine the prevalent rate of Anemia and malnutrition in elderly living in the catchment area of Thungkhitay Health Promotion Hospital, Pongprasart Sub-district, Bangsapan District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Two hundreds and thirty-one elderly aged 60 years old were obtained using stratified random sampling. Personal data, health status and food intake were collected by means of interviewing. Hematocrit was measured to assess anemia and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated to assess nutritional status. Chi-square or fisher exact and multiple logistic regression test were used to determine the factors associated with anemia.

The results revealed that based on hematocrits, the prevalent rate of anemia among the 231 elderly was 28.1% (65/231). The rate among males was 34.6% (27/78), whereas it was 24.8% (38/153) among females. According to body mass index, 6.5% (15/231) were underweight, 61.0% (141/231) were overweight or obese and 32.5% (75/231) were normal. Regarding factors associated with anemia, aged 80 years old and above, present musculoskeletal diseases and underweight were associated with anemia with adjusted OR 5.41 (95% CI=2.15–13.60), 0.39 (95% CI= 0.16-0.94) and 4.93 (95% CI=1.37-17.75), respectively.

These research findings indicate that active surveillance, prevention and control and health promotion measures should be implemented especially among underweight elderly with aged 80 years old and above.